Flights have resumed at Luton Airport after heavy snow forced it to close on Thursday morning.

Schools were also closed and roads and trains disrupted by the snow with reports of up to 10cm (4in) in places.

One person in Luton was left needing hospital treatment after being hit in the eye by a snowball which was thought to contain stones.

Most schools across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire have decided to stay closed on Friday.

Hertfordshire County Council has advised head teachers to stay shut, while Bedfordshire local education authority is urging as many of its schools as possible to be open, but it is up to each head teacher to decide early in the morning.

In Buckinghamshire, home-to-school transport was also cancelled for Friday. Drivers of 4x4 vehicles helped the Meals on Wheels service in Hertfordshire deliver dinners to elderly people.

The service made a radio appeal for drivers to help deliver 150 dinners to elderly people along the icy, snowy roads in Hemel Hempstead, Tring and Berkhamsted.

A spokeswoman said: "The drivers of these cars get criticised, but they came up trumps for us."